Business Growth Fund investment will help Frontrow Energy Technology Group achieve its vision of creating a group of world-leading technology businesses based in the North East of Scotland, (Image: Getty)

Business Growth Fund is investing £10m in Aberdeen-based energy service firm Frontrow Energy Technology Group to fund acquisitions.

The investment, alongside £3m pledged by the group’s founders, will support the company’s growth plans.

Business Growth Fund (BGF) is taking a minority stake in Frontrow as part of the investment.

Frontrow, which was established in 2013 by former Expro Group chief executive Graeme Coutts, has built a group of energy service companies developing new technologies and providing entrepreneurial teams with operational guidance and expertise.

Coutts, who sits as Frontrow's chairman, is also currently chairman of BGF portfolio companies Spex Group and STATS Group.

He said: “This funding will allow us to acquire and to grow more high-potential companies in the energy sector.

“Our vision is to build a group of world-leading technology businesses based here in the North East of Scotland, which has long been a centre for the development of downhole and subsea technologies.”

The Frontrow group of companies include downhole technology unit Well-Sense which has developed a low cost way of collecting data from oil wells.

Also in the group is Well-Centric, which provides offshore wellhead servicing operations, and Interventek, a subsea technology business with a unique ‘shear and seal’ valve designed to reduce the cost of subsea well interventions and improve safety and reliability.

The companies are all based in the same Dyce incubator facility with access to “extensive shared resources”.

Frontrow is led by chief executive Stuart Ferguson, former chief technology officer at Weatherford.

The senior team also includes non-executive director Colin Smith, who sold his Petrowell business to Weatherford in 2012, and executive director Frank Summers, who ran the Simmons Fund 1 and led investments in Red Spider Technology, Xodus and EFC.

Mike Sibson, an investor in BGF’s Aberdeen office, will now join the Frontrow board.

Sibson said: “The past two years have been incredibly challenging for companies operating in the North East of Scotland’s oil and gas industry, and many entrepreneurs have understandably been shaken by the downturn.

“Despite these strong headwinds in the energy industry, and across the whole of UK, 2016 was a record year for BGF, and we will continue partnering, supporting and investing as part of our strategy to provide truly long-term capital to companies scaling up.

“This deal allows us not only to invest in the growth and development of Frontrow, but it also extends our reach into younger, earlier stage companies in oil and gas, and the broader energy industry.

“We are backing a team with a deep understanding of energy technology, a strong industry network and the operational experience to bring new products to market.”

Coutts added: “We’ve had a long-standing relationship with Mike Sibson and his colleagues, so BGF was top of our list when we wanted to expand Frontrow’s capability.

“We’re not just tapping into the capital that BGF can supply but also into its expertise and network.”